The northern Illinois city has decided to take legal action in response to the Rita Crundwell case. The lawsuit says the accounting firms the city was using should have noticed that millions of dollars had gone missing.

Illinois officials will gather financial information from the state’s more than 800 school districts over the next two weeks to understand how shifting pension costs away from the state would affect those districts.

“The more facts we could gather regarding what the impact would be on school districts,” Gov. Pat Quinn said, “it would be very important facts we should know.”

The governor initially supported shifting the cost of future pensions for downstate teachers and university workers to school districts and universities but backed away as the legislative session waned.

The failure of Illinois lawmakers to approve a plan to support state parks means the Department of Natural Resources will continue to struggle financially. The agency is still figuring out what that mean for its parks, trails, beaches and programs.

Attempts to institute an entrance fee to state parks were shoved asside in the Genereal Assembly, and supporters attempted to raise the price of a vehicle license plate by $2 and dedicate those funds for state parks.